Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands

CSI info 7

SUMMARY OF VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES: SOUTH AFRICA
André Share, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
Rogge Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

Some 15 years ago, the National Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (South Africa) identified, through a series of workshops along the coast of South Africa, the need for a co-ordinated national approach to communication and education for coastal management. This led to a programme within the department known as the Coastal Management Advisory Programme, commonly known as CMAP. The programme was run by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of the Department until 1995 when it was expanded to include two national co-ordinators, one from the department and one from the CSIR.

Today the programme has expanded into an effective national information exchange, educational and capacity-building programme and is known as CoastCARE. It is now co-ordinated from within the department’s Coastal Management Office on a full-time basis.

The objectives of CoastCARE are:

• to promote optimum awareness of the coastal zone so that its resources can be managed and developed in a sustainable way;
• to play a dynamic role in the exchange of information amongst all interested and affected parties;
• to facilitate the education of our diverse coastal communities through individually designed projects;
• to form a bridge of communication between scientists and other role players; and
• to co-ordinate relevant associated projects to promote consistency and integration on a national level.

CoastCARE initiates, co-ordinates and manages projects that centre around the participation of a diverse range of interest groups. These include: local, provincial and national authorities; local residents; coastal communities; subsistence and recreational resource gatherers; property developers; industry; scientists and researchers; national and international tourists and holiday makers; young people; students; environmentalists; conservation officials; politicians; law enforcement officers; the legal fraternity; non-government organizations and community-based organizations.

CoastCARE makes use of diverse means to reach these people, including courses, workshops and seminars; multi-media displays; educational videos; a variety of publications; radio; print media; a technical manual and interpretive signage.

As a result of severe manpower and budgetary constraints, CoastCARE is very dependent on strong partnerships with a variety of organizations and other role players. These include the private sector, (they fund most of the specific projects co-ordinated by CoastCARE); government and non-government organizations; research and academic institutions and private consultants.

Specific projects in various stages of development and implementation under the Coast-CARE umbrella include:

• A national needs assessment and prioritization for all educational and training needs in the field of coastal and marine management is being done in co-operation with the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR) and will lead to a more co-ordinated approach with certain minimum standards in place for all training in this field. A lot of ad hoc and individual short training and educational courses are run by a variety of organizations in South Africa, but to date there is no co-operation and co-ordination in this field; this often leads to expensive duplication of effort and sub-standard information being conveyed. The needs assessment will be completed by the end of 1998; thereafter an implementation strategy will be developed and implemented when the funding needed becomes available.
  
  
• A technical manual for coastal management in South Africa is being compiled with the possibility of extending it into a manual for East Africa in co-operation with the Secretariat for Eastern African Coastal Area Management (SEACAM). The manual is at a stage where a first draft is currently being reviewed and will be completed and published early in 1999. This manual is the result of a national survey which identified such a document as a high priority for coastal managers in local and provincial authorities as well as coastal engineers, town planners, developers and other decision-makers in this field.
  
  
• There is an ongoing educational programme at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town aimed at school groups and the general public (approximately 1 million visitors per annum). This programme includes multi-media interactive computer displays, interactive learning methods like puppet shows, etc., murals and other displays about the coast. It is run by two full-time educators.
  
  
• A series of educational videos is being expanded and will ultimately be distributed to schools, institutions for tertiary education and coastal communities.
  
  
• An information booklet series on the coast including topics like ‘Estuaries and Lagoons’, ‘Rocky Shores’ etc. is being made available through the CoastCARE office free of charge to the general public, schools and conservation agencies. This is accompanied by a CoastCARE poster, which can act as an interactive learning tool in itself.
  
  
• An Internet web site is currently being developed which will contain information on the national coastal management office, CoastCARE and general information about the coast.
  
  
• A national implementation strategy and implementation plan for the co-ordination of interpretive signage along the coast of South Africa has been developed in close co-operation with a wide variety of role players in South Africa and will be implemented over three years as soon as funding becomes available.

These are a few of the major CoastCARE initiatives in various stages of development and/or implementation.

It is important to note that all of these projects are being developed and implemented in close co-operation with a wide variety of other role players, interest groups and organizations as CoastCARE strives for effective exchange of information instead of the usual top-down government approach which tends to alienate people. Strong partnerships have emerged over the years and CoastCARE is looking forward to extending its local involvement to the rest of the continent as we believe there is a lot of scope for working together with similar international and regional programmes.

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